Wednesday, February 04, 2009

the cage i have known

the cage i have known is one that
having left...
i would never return to.
no amount of familiarity makes it 'comfortable'.
this cage is one
that death would be escape.
tangible pain would be easier than this captivity.

"stupid bird,
fearfully returned to the cage,
stubbornly refusing to fly..."

nay...
i am not a bird that has flown free and returned...
i have never seen the open door.
i have been told it is there, but i cannot see it.
there is nothing but darkness...
and a small, small Light....
that illuminates my feet, and one step ahead, if at all.
sometimes it's still, and dark, and i wait...

and i hope.

and sometimes is enough Light to take one step
but there is still no sight of the door.
no light peeking through the bars.
i only see glimpses in my mind of what could be...
in the freedom i have never seen.

i have been stepping and waiting, stepping and waiting
for ten long years.
my steps have become more sure,
but the process is painfully slow...
and i have grown weary.
deliverance has not been instant.
deliverance has not been total.
deliverance has not been complete.

it has, however, been promised.

"brave bird,
wearily persevering in captivity,
stubbornly refusing to give up,
to give in..."

so i will walk, within this cage,
toward the open door i have never seen,
my vision not of natural sight
but revelation that sustains...

this struggle is not for naught.

so i walk,
one step in front of the other...
waiting when i need to wait,
then walking again when i can,
and trusting God for the Promise.

and believing...
He does not despise His captive people.


(some rough poetic rambling)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Outcast, Adopted.

THIS BLOG IS IN NEED OF AN OVERHAUL. there are posts from years back i would not be able to post in good conscience now. i plan to overhaul the blog, and either delete or add a disclaimer to those posts. but that is gonna take time....

The Radical Summons: "
Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come." Hebrews 13:13.

"The Spirit never loosens where the Word binds; the Spirit never justifies where the Word condemns; the Spirit never approves where the Word disapproves; the Spirit never blesses where the Word curses." —Thomas Brooks

‎"God receives none but those who are forsaken, restores health to none but those who are sick, gives sight to none but the blind, and life to none but the dead. He does not give saintliness to any but sinners, nor wisdom to any but fools. In short: He has mercy on none but the wretched and gives grace to none but those who are in disgrace. Therefore no arrogant saint, or just or wise man can be material for God, neither can he do the work of God, but he remains confined within his own work and makes of himself a fictitious, ostensible, false, and deceitful saint, that is, a hypocrite." --Martin Luther (W.A. 1.183ff)

i will not let You go: "Jacob's sense of his total debility and utter defeat is now the secret of his power with his friendly Vanquisher. God can overthrow all the prowess of the self-reliant, but He cannot resist the earnest entreaty of the helpless." --Albert Barnes

i will not let You go: "Jacob's determination did not flow from his strength, it flowed from his weakness." --Charles Leiter